A UTV sitting on the bottom of Payette Lake is not believed to pose a significant threat to water quality, according to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
The UTV sank in about 200 feet of water on Jan. 25 after breaking through thin ice offshore from Mile High Marina.
An assessment by DEQ found the risk to human health and water quality in the lake to be “very low,” said Troy Smith, an administrator for DEQ’s regional office in Boise.
Smith cited the small amount of oil and gas in the UTV, where it sank in the lake, and currents in the lake as reasons for the determination.
The UTV contained an estimated seven or eight gallons at the time it sank, Smith said. Extra gas tanks attached to the back of the vehicle were both empty.
Some of the gas likely escaped into the lake from a breather vent on the gas tank, but Smith said it would be “very difficult” to track since the lake is frozen.
No fuel detected at water plant
So far, the city has not detected any fuel or oils in filters at the city’s drinking water plant in Spring Mountain Ranch, McCall Communications Manager Erin Greaves said.
The city also took water samples from its Davis Beach Intake Station and sent them to a lab for analysis. No contamination was found in the samples, Greaves said.
The Davis Beach Intake Station is upstream of currents that flow through the lake relative to where the UTV sank. The Legacy Beach Intake Station, which is downstream of the sunken vehicle, is not in use this winter for unrelated reasons.
The UTV was driven by McCall resident Dan Scott, the former president and general manager of Shore Lodge and Whitetail Club who now works for a Boise development firm operated by the heirs of Albertsons.
Scott was not fined in connection with the incident, but will be required to remove the UTV from the lake at his own expense, Smith said.
“Diving/extraction companies can remove the UTV, as they have removed other such vehicles from Payette Lake,” Smith said. “However, they would likely not be able to do so until the lake ice has thawed.”
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The city would like to see the vehicle removed sooner, Greaves said.
“The city’s position remains that we would prefer the UTV to be removed at the owner’s earliest convenience and that the presence of ice should not be a barrier to removal,” she said.
